I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to write is to read, and I see writing and reading as completely related. One almost couldn't exist without the other. |
John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)
I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to write is to read, and I see writing and reading as completely related. One almost couldn't exist without the other. |
The best of life is life lived quietly, where nothing happens but our calm journey through the day, where change is imperceptible and the precious life is everything. |
John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)
Beckett, Joyce, Flann O'Brien, Edna O'Brien O'Casey, O'Cadhain, O'Connor, O'Faolain, O'Flaherty, etc., etc., there're so many great Irish writers. And there's John McGahern. |
John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)
"The best of life is life lived quietly,
where nothing happens
but our calm journey through the day,
where change is imperceptible
and the precious life is everything."
John Mc Gahern
The life where nothing happens
among the dear familiar things
is for me the most precious life.
...
And all we have
is those precious moments
and the hours and the days.
John McGahern
If a book was well-written it can be obscene,
but it couldn't be immoral,
because if it was immoral,
it couldn't be true.
John Mc Gahern
You need to have a good boring life
in which nothing much happens
except what's going on in your head.
John McGahern
about writing